During a live X stream on Friday night, AEW head Tony Khan said he spoke with NWA President Billy Corgan about AEW creating their own National Championship.
“When I recently announced it, I saw a lot of talk online and there was chatter from people from other promotions and people all over. Wrestlers are going to talk and say stuff, that’s totally cool. I ended up having a nice conversation about it with the President of the NWA, Billy Corgan. The NWA National Championship has a great history of its own. When we created a National Championship, I saw NWA wrestlers saying, ‘We have a National Title.’ AEW is a separate company and we have our own lineage. Billy, I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s doing. I love the traditions of pro wrestling and I had a nice talk with Billy. We haven’t talked in a long time and it was good for him to do this. I respect him and the NWA. We’re trying to do something different here. We brought pro wrestling back to TBS, but there are a lot of promotions that had history on TBS before, one of them being the NWA. I think it’s great that Billy is trying to keep that tradition alive and revive it. We had a really nice talk about this. To any wrestlers anywhere in the world, particularly you in the NWA, you might be happy to hear Billy and I had a nice talk about this. I’m sure he would say the same.“
Following the announcement there was backlash from fans and NWA talent, including the current NWA National Champion Mike Mondo. The inaugural AEW National Champion will be crowned in a Casino Gauntlet Match at the Full Gear pay-per-view next Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) November 15, 2025
Quote Source: Fightful